Grass Valley Woman Selling Breast Milk Online Says She Was Scammed By Bad Check
GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) — A Grass Valley woman says she was ripped off when she tried selling her breast milk to a Florida woman online.
For April Silva, the $2,000 was a way to pump up her family's income while helping other families, but her good intentions went south.
"All through the check was almost a grid pattern of watermarks," she said. "I said to her, I hope you're not scamming me. She says, I wouldn't do that. You can trust me and God's word."
Two months ago, Silva created an account on onlythebreast.com, which buys, sells and donates breastmilk to well-meaning moms. It was on that site that Silva found an Orlando woman who went by the name Paula Smith.
"I had her address, her phone number, I looked her up on Facebook. I looked into it just to make sure it was real and everything was going to work out," she said.
They exchanged a series of emails and text messages to arrange breast milk shipments. In return, Silva would receive $2,000. They agreed a cashier's check was the most convenient way to pay.
"Over the next few months it was going to be 750 ounces which would put me pumping every hour on the hour for the next few months," she said.
But after Silva cashed the cashier's check, the bank called saying the check was fake.
"The bank had looked into it further and said that the paper was bought at Staples and that she had completely manufactured the entire check," she said.
The original check is now in the hands of the Nevada County Sheriff's Department, which is working with Florida authorities to find the real Paula Smith.
Officials with onlythebreast.com point us to a warning on their site telling sellers not to accept checks.
While Silva says she's done with the idea of selling breast milk, she doesn't want anyone else to take the risk and wants to make sure people check the fine print.
"I don't want anyone to have to deal with this. You know, I'm sure I'm not the only person she's done it to," she said.